Because of Onan's unwillingness to bear a child for his deceased brother, Yahweh was displeased with Onan and slew him also (Gen 38:10).
As I searched the scriptures during this time, I noticed there were many couples who suffered from infertility: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, Elkanah and Hannah, and Zachariah and Elisabeth.
It would also provide for the woman's care, giving her children to support her as she aged. Onan doesn't like the idea. According to this custom, the children will legally be considered heirs of his dead brother. The time and resources Onan must provide caring for them won't be part of his legacy.
There are six barren women in the Bible: three of the four matriarchs (Sarah, Rebekah and Rachel) in Genesis; Hannah, mother of the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1-2); the anonymous wife of Manoah, mother of Samson (Judges 13); and the “great woman of Shunem,” also called the Shunammite, an acolyte of the prophet Elisha (2 ...
So Judah told Onan, “Go and sleep with your brother's widow; it's the duty of a brother-in-law to keep your brother's line alive.” But Onan knew that the child wouldn't be his, so whenever he slept with his brother's widow he spilled his semen on the ground so he wouldn't produce a child for his brother.
In this way he will make atonement before the LORD for the man because of his discharge. "`When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening.
But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his; so whenever he lay with his brother's wife, he spilled his semen on the ground to keep from producing offspring for his brother. What he did was wicked in the LORD's sight; so he put him to death also.
Sadly, many couples assume that infertility is always a sign of God's disfavor or a means of punishment. That is not necessarily the case. On the other hand, God's will may be to bring a couple through the experience of infertility before they conceive.
Among the forbidden couples are parent-child, sister-brother, grandparent-grandchild, uncle-niece, aunt-nephew, and between half siblings and certain close in-laws. This "Levitical law" is found in Leviticus 18:6-18, supplemented by Leviticus 20:17-21 and Deuteronomy 27:20-23. Photo illustration, Shutterstock, Inc.
Rachel, like Sarah and Rebekah, remained unable to conceive. According to biblical scholar Tikva Frymer-Kensky, "The infertility of the matriarchs has two effects: it heightens the drama of the birth of the eventual son, marking Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph as special; and it emphasizes that pregnancy is an act of God."
Because of Onan's unwillingness to bear a son for his deceased brother, Yahweh was displeased with Onan and slew him also (Gen 38:10).
Ostensibly, Tamar is only waiting for Shelah to grow up and mate with her. But after time passes, she realizes that Judah is not going to effect that union. She therefore devises a plan to secure her own future by tricking her father-in-law into having sex with her. She is not planning incest.
15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face. 16 Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, he went over to her by the roadside and said, “Come now, let me sleep with you.” “And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.
The Bible never explicitly approves of contraception.
Genesis 1:28
Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”
Against: Some Christians believe that the unwanted embryos should not be destroyed as they are potential human beings and/or because they believe that life begins at conception. The Roman Catholic and many evangelical churches take this view.
Soon after his arrival in Harran, Jacob fell in love with the “beautiful and lovely” Rachel, daughter of his cousin Laban (Genesis 29:17). Laban warmly welcomed him to his family, but asked a steep price for Rachel's hand in marriage: Jacob would first have to work as a shepherd for seven years, tending Laban's flocks.
Buddhism. Buddhism has no religious concept of marriage (see Buddhist view of marriage).
Well, Proverbs 5 warns men to avoid the forbidden woman. The woman who entices a man away from his marriage. In the end, it warns she is as bitter as poison.
The Catholic Church believes that IVF is never acceptable because it removes conception from the marital act and because it treats a baby as a product to be manipulated, violating the child's integrity as a human being with an immortal soul from the moment of conception (Donum Vitae 1987).
IVF and Christianity
According to traditional Christian views, beginning at conception, the embryo has moral status as a human being, and thus most assisted reproductive technologies are forbidden.
~ Mary's immaculate conception was necessary in order for her to give birth later to Jesus without infecting him with original sin. ~ Partly based on her immaculate conception, Mary is considered the mother of the Roman Catholic church and of all its members.
The virgin birth of Jesus is the Christian doctrine that Jesus was conceived by his mother, Mary, through the power of the Holy Spirit and without sexual intercourse.
Proverbs 5:18b says “…and rejoice with the wife of your youth.” Verse 19b says, “… Let her breast satisfy you at all times.” This scripture does not say that it is the breasts of only a young girl that gives a man satisfaction.
But Jonadab son of Shimeah, David's brother, said, "My lord should not think that they killed all the princes; only Amnon is dead. This has been Absalom's expressed intention ever since the day Amnon raped his sister Tamar.